LGBT Focus Group for ATHE Conference in New York

[Frank Miller]

Registration Now Open for LGBT Focus Group Pre-Conference

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Focus Group of ATHE announces  
its 2009 Pre-Conference: "Risking Queerness.” The Pre-Conference will  
be held Friday, August 7, 2009 starting at 10 am in the Kaplan  
Assembly Hall (Room 101) of the LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th  
Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues), New York, NY. Please note that  
this is a change in venue from our previous press release, and that  
the Pre-Conference will no longer take place at the American Airlines  
Theatre.

Inspired by our co-conference with the American Alliance for Theatre  
and Education (AATE) and at the suggestion of our membership, the Pre- 
Conference will begin with a roundtable discussion on the unique  
challenges inherent in making theatre with and for LGBT and queer youth.

Panelists for the discussion come from organizations working with LGBT  
youth in NYC and across the country, including Theatre Askew Youth  
Performance Experience (TAYPE), Tectonic Theater Project, and the LGBT  
Community Center’s Youth Enrichment Services Program in NYC; Dreams of  
Hope in Pittsburgh; True Colors: Out Youth Theater in Boston; Add Verb  
Productions in Portland, Maine; and Fringe Benefits in Los Angeles. In  
addition, Dr. Brad Vincent, Assistant Principal of Drama at LaGuardia  
High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts, will present part of  
the ethnodrama, The Silence at School, about the experiences of gay  
students in elementary, middle, and high school.

The Pre-Conference will also include a panel entitled, “DIY [Do-It- 
Yourself] Performance: The Risks of Queer Ethics, Aesthetics, and  
Politics.” The panel features solo performance artist Silky Shoemaker  
performing “Did Britney Do It (To) Herself?” in addition to several  
papers examining DIY performance across the country as queer  
strategies of resistance.

Featured at the Pre-Conference in the afternoon is “In-Queer-y:  
Exploring Contemporary Queer Work in NYC,” a diverse panel of  
performances by New York artists. It will include Heather M. Ács, a  
multi-media theatre performance artist and high-femme troublemaker;  
Silas Howard, whose first feature, By Hook Or By Crook, was a 2002  
Sundance Film Festival premiere and five-time Best Feature winner; Lee  
Kyle, storyteller; M Lamar, featured performer in Justin Bond’s award- 
winning show Lustre at P.S. 122; Glenn Marla, who explored fat, gender  
and sex in a year-long performance project “NYC’s Hottest Fat Go-Go  
Boy;” and performance artists Lea Robinson’s and Elizabeth Whitney’s  
piece, “The Miscegenations Project.”

A staged reading of David Greenspan’s new play A Horse’s Ass will  
begin at 7pm. The performance will be followed by a conversation and  
discussion with the playwright facilitated by Jason Fitzgerald, a  
scholar of Greenspan’s work.

The LGBT Focus Group asks that you join them for an informal get  
together at a local bar in the West Village after the reading.

To register for the Pre-Conference, please send an e-mail to brentstansell at yahoo.com 
. The registration fee is $20 and is due in person on August 7. The  
registration fee includes lunch (please include any special dietary  
needs in your e-mail). All are welcome to join the Pre-Conference at  
any point throughout the day, but you are encouraged to e-mail ahead  
of time to guarantee a spot and a meal. There will be an extended  
break before the staged reading for participants to eat dinner on  
their own.  The LGBT Community Center and the Pre-Conference room are  
wheelchair accessible.

Please send any questions or inquiries to the Pre-Conference Co- 
Planners: Brent Stansell at brentstansell at yahoo.com and Cassidy C  
Browning at cassidycbrowning at gmail.com.
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